We all have to begin somewhere, and this is actually the most difficult time. Years ago I remember teaching a class about finishing that included one student who said he had never used a stain or finish, and to make matters worse, he had never even painted anything. This was a two-day class in which…

A simple approach to this classic finishing technique. Finishing options abound in the woodworking world, however with Arts & Crafts style pieces, you need to get the finish right to complete the feel of the piece. This isn’t a project made from birch plywood, where an opaque finish might suffice. There are several finishing schedules I’m…

Did I mention there would be a quiz? Here are 20 questions, together with the answers, based on my articles from Popular Woodworking. If you have been reading regularly, you should do well. For more in-depth explanations, go to the finishing section of the site, where you’ll find many of the articles, and you can…

Basic steps for beautiful joints. Dovetails. They get put on a pedestal as a sign of quality. And while not every project or furniture style warrants them, I enjoy sitting down, listening to an audiobook, and cutting them by hand. Once you break down dovetails into a series of basic steps, I think you’ll find…

The difference is more than just pushing or pulling. It’s been over 20 years since the Western handsaw, a tool that cuts on the push stroke and was the pride of the English-speaking world, was surpassed as the tool most woodworkers reached for when they need a handsaw. It has been replaced by the Japanese…

Match the size to the job–that’s the key Hand planes come in a bewildering variety of sizes. Why are there so many? I’ll help explain this mystery by dividing the field into four groups, in order of size: block planes, smoothing planes, jack planes, and leveling planes. I’ll show you what the planes in each…

A system as elegant as the joint itself. Compound-angle dovetails are some of the most beguiling joints in all woodworking. But, as John Lennon once suggested, they can be as difficult to make as “fixing a hole in the ocean.” Well, maybe not that hard—but it all begins with figuring out  those odd angles. I’ve…

Fine furniture calls for an elegant drawer. A master cabinetmaker shares his approach to design and fitting. There are just a few things my partner at Philadelphia Furniture Workshops, Alan Turner, and I don’t see eye-to-eye on. But how to make a good drawer isn’t one of them. When building furniture, we probably spend as…

Tool: Quick-Release Pock-It Hole Clamp Shop Now Manufacturer: Rockler MSRP: $25.99 Pocket hole joints are quick and easy to make. For some applications, such as face frames, they’re perfect. But if you’ve ever tried to assemble a face frame with narrow rails and closely spaced screws, you know that holding the pieces together can be…

When using my miter saw, I’ve found that the easiest way to sneak up on a line is to use a stack of sticky notes. First, set a stop block to cut your part slightly oversize (1/16″ is plenty). Attach a thin pile of sticky notes to the stop block, make a cut, and then…

I use a portable circular saw to break down plywood and other sheet goods into manageable pieces before bringing them to the table saw for final sizing. I prefer to do the job on sawhorses rather than crouching on the floor. Unfortunately, you normally need three or four horses to provide enough support to prevent…

The next time you use your jigsaw, forget about hauling out the sawhorses or cantilevering a hard-to-hold workpiece off your bench. Extruded polystyrene insulation board, the rigid pink sheets used in housing construction, makes sawing easy, whether you’re cutting a small piece of hardwood or a full sheet of plywood. During the cut, the workpiece…

I make a lot of drawers in my shop and got tired of fiddling with squares and pinch rods to square up the boxes during assembly. I decided to build a squaring frame to make the job go much quicker. It’s really nothing more than an accurate 90° corner against which I can press the…

Micro fiber cloth picks up tiny dust particles as well as, if not better than, a tack cloth. Unlike a tack cloth, micro fiber cloths are washable and reusable. Rockler sells Norton’s micro fiber finishing cloth for $15, but any micro fiber cloth will work, as long as it has hemmed edges. -Kevin Southwick

There’s no single surface in my shop that’s the ideal height for every job. With my adjustable-height sawhorses, I can quickly set up an outfeed table, drawing table, or assembly table at different heightsas the need arises. My sawhorses are the folding, galvanized-metal kind, but any type will do. Cut 2×4’s to fit on the…

Tool: Stainless Steel Precision Rulers Shop Now  Manufacturer: JessEm MSRP: $24.99+ The Canadian company JessEm, known for their high-quality router lifts, recently released a new line of precision steel rules. As you can see in the photo above, what makes these rules different than others is the laser-cut shapes in the center. These shapes are…

Tool: Magnetic Straightedge Shop Now  Manufacturer: Lee Valley MSRP: $7.50 Don’t have a drafting table? Can’t draw freehand to save your life? Here’s a tool from Lee Valley that lets you easily make isometric shop sketches. The tool has two parts: a standard 12″ ruler with a matte finish and an innovative black straightedge. Seven…

Why you’re better off to look this gift horse in the mouth. There is a trap lurking within the pages of our magazine. It is also in most woodworking magazines, and many books. It is called the cutlist, and while it poses as your helpful friend, you’re better off to ignore it and make your…